Later in the afternoon I was able to go to the Pediatric and Hematology units to either load or unload a medication in the Pyxis machines. Although it is a simple task to perform, it is interesting to me because we are navigating around this ginormous hospital and I am able to compare the units I am visiting to one another and what I am familiar with from the hospitals in the United States. If everyone just started speaking English, I probably would not even be able to tell I was in Turkey.
The last task completed today was going with Oktaya, one of the Intensive Care Unit pharmacists, to the Cardiology unit. We had to restock diazepam and midazolam, and narcotics are only allowed to be delivered to the units by pharmacists. The Pyxis machines are located in the room where heart catheterizations are performed. You can see the picture above. There are two machines for adults and one for pediatrics. I also thought it was cool that there were cabinets with the catheters hanging neatly organized. This was the first time I had seen all the varieties of catheters in person.
Overall, it was a successful day of becoming more comfortable with finding my way around the hospital and also working closely with the staff. Several of the pharmacy students that work there decided they are going to take us to a lake nearby for a picnic tomorrow evening...so stay tuned for that!